3D Xpoint: A Guide To The Future Of Storage-Class Memory

[Guest]

Memory and storage collide with Intel and Micron's new, much-anticipated 3D XPoint technology, but the road has been long and winding. This is a comprehensive guide to its history, its performance, its promise and hype, its future, and its competition.

3D Xpoint: A Guide To The Future Of Storage-Class Memory : Read more

 

[coolitic]

the 3 months for data center and 1 year for consumer nand is an old statistic, and even then it's supposed to apply to drives that have surpassed their endurance rating.

 

[PaulAlcorn]

double post

 

[PaulAlcorn]

the 3 months for data center and 1 year for consumer nand is an old statistic, and even then it's supposed to apply to drives that have surpassed their endurance rating.

Yes, that is data retention after the endurance rating is expired, and it is also contingent upon the temperature that the SSD was used at, and the temp during the power-off storage window (40C enterprise, 30C Client). These are the basic rules by which retention is measured (the definition of SSD data retention, as it were), but admittedly, most readers will not know the nitty gritty details.

However, I was unaware that JEDEC specification for data retention has changed, do you have a source for the new JEDEC specification?

 

[stairmand]

Replacing RAM with a permanent storage would simply revolutionise computing. No more loading an OS, no more booting, no loading data, instant searches of your entire PC for any type of data, no paging. Could easily be the biggest advance in 30 years.

 

[InvalidError]

Replacing RAM with a permanent storage would simply revolutionise computing. No more loading an OS, no more booting, no loading data

You don't need X-point to do that: since Windows 95 and ATX, you can simply put your PC in Standby. I haven't had to reboot my PC more often than every couple of months for updates in ~20 years.

 

[Kewlx25]

Replacing RAM with a permanent storage would simply revolutionise computing. No more loading an OS, no more booting, no loading data

You don't need X-point to do that: since Windows 95 and ATX, you can simply put your PC in Standby. I haven't had to reboot my PC more often than every couple of months for updates in ~20 years.

Remove your harddrive and let me know how that goes. The notion of "loading" is a concept of reading from your HD into your memory and initializing a program. So goodbye to all forms of "loading".

 

[hannibal]

The Main thing with this technology is that we can not afford it, untill Many years has passesd from the time it comes to market. But, yes, interesting product that can change Many things.

 

[_TheD0ct0r_]

10 years later... still unavailable/costs 10k

 

[TerryLaze]

10 years later... still unavailable/costs 10k

Sure you won't be able to afford a 3Tb+ drive in even 10 years,but a 128/256Gb one just for windows and a few games will be affordable if expensive even in a couple of years.

 

[zodiacfml]

I dont understand the need to make it work as DRAM replaement. It doesnt have to. A system might only need a small amount RAm then a large 3D xpoint pool.

The bottleneck is thr interface. There is no faster interface available except DIMM. We use the DIMM interface but make it appear as storage to the OS. Simple.

It will require a new chipset and board though where Intel has the control. We should see two DIMM groups next to each other, they differ mechanically but the same pin count.

 

[_TheD0ct0r_]

10 years later... still unavailable/costs 10k

Sure you won't be able to afford a 3Tb+ drive in even 10 years,but a 128/256Gb one just for windows and a few games will be affordable if expensive even in a couple of years.

I was using sarcasm there. I was making a joke about how new tech we hear about takes way longer than expected to come out and when it does it stays really expensive for a while. 3tb drives are really affordable

 

[bunnymaid]

eventually supplants or compliments volatile DRAM

"Nice DRAM there."
Complements != compliments.

 

[blazorthon]

In for a grain of salt, took a pound of it. That's a huge change from the numbers they were quoting earlier. This is why we don't get too into hype. As usual, it will take them a decade or two to progress the technology to the potential they already know how to implement today to milk more profits out of the technology. Don't expect anything special here until at least 2020.

Stagnation indeed as mentioned in the first page. No one wants to logically progress, let alone innovate because all the other tech companies get away with stealing anything you come up with that they can't beat anyway. It's not even a matter of innovation being expensive at this point, there's no money to be made in it for the innovator.